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SOURCE STUDIES 



ON THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION 



THE ROYAL SESSION OF JUNE 23, 1789 



EDITED BY 

FRED MORROW FLING, Ph. D. 

ii 

TRANSLATED BY 
HELENE DRESSER FLING, M. A. 



SECOND EDITION 



LINCOLN 

1907 



If 



F : - 



[library of confess] 

Two Gooies KectMvod 

FEB 17 1908 

0LA3SA XXc, Mo, 

COPY S. 



COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
FRED MORROW FLING 



PREFACE 



The common practice in college classes in history is to assign 
each semester a subject for a paper. The student is supposed to 
know how to collect his material, to criticise it, analyze it, es- 
tablish the facts, make an outline and write a narrative. More- 
over, as a rule, he is allowed no time for this work, but the 
paper is supposed to be ready at the end of the semester. The 
results obtained in this way never can be satisfactory. Students 
who do not know how to conduct an investigation in history 
should do their first work under the guidance of an instructor. 
It is for this purpose that this collection of sources has been 
made. It is intended to serve a purpose somewhat different from 
that of the collections now in use in the schools. Its purpose is to 
place in the hands of the student a number of sources dealing 
with the same topic, thus making it possible for him by actual 
experience to acquaint himself with the process by which the 
historian, weighing a mass of evidence, some of it contradictory, 
arrives finally at the historical fact. Such training can not be 
obtained from the study of a collection made up of sources that 
do not record the same data. 

In my beginnners' course in European history, one classroom 
hour a week for two semesters is given to the preparation of the 
paper based upon this collection of sources. The work is intro- 
duced by a series of elementary lectures on historical method, the 
students being required to take notes, to rewrite the notes in 
the form of a development and to make an outline of method. 
The source books are then brought into the class and the in- 
structor criticises the first source, the class taking notes. The 
students are then expected to take up the remaining sources, 
classifying, localizing and analyzing each in turn. The results 

(3) 



4 Preface 

are presented in the form of a brief outline and narrative, ac- 
companied by a citation of the sources by way of proof. The 
criticised sources are then compared to determine what the his- 
torical facts are, the facts are grouped in outline form and a 
narrative written based upon this outline. Thruout the paper 
the evidence is cited carefully in footnotes and, when the sources 
do not agree, the evidence is discussed in the notes and the rea- 
sons for the statements contained in the narrative are given. All 
notebooks are passed in each week and carefully examined. 

If the work is properly conducted, the training is severe and 
valuable. Few students have the slightest conception of what 
proof means in history, constantly confounding the affirmation 
of a single witness with the fact established by the agreement of 
witnesses. Fewer yet understand how to make the narrative 
reflect the character of the evidence upon which it is based. It 
is the business of the instructor to make these things clear by 
specific examples and to insist that the student shall show in his 
own work that he understands what the critical, careful investi- 
gation of a historical topic means. 

The equipment of the instructor should consist of training in 
research and a conscious knowledge of the process of investi- 
gation, so much at least as can be obtained from the study of the 
Introduction to the Study of History by Langlois and Seignobos. 
Before taking up the establishment of the facts I give my class 
two lectures on the French revolution, dealing with the period 
up to June 23, 1789. The students' notes are rewritten and out- 
lined. In place of these lectures, the class might be asked to 
read and take notes on some good history of the revolution in 
which this introductory matter is satisfactorily treated. 

Fred Morrow Fling. 
The University of Nebraska. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

I. Necker, Jacques. De la revolution francaise 7 

II. Leouzon le Due, L. Gorrespondance diplomatique du 

baron de St a el-Hols tein 10 

III. Kovalevsky, Massimo. I dispacci degli ambasciatori 

veneti alia corte di Francia durante la rivoluzione. . . 12 

IV. Desmoulins, Camille. Oeuvres . .' 15 

V. Bailly, J. S. Memoires 17 

VI. Mege, Francisque. Gaultier de Biauzat, sa vie et sa 

Gorrespondance 22 

VII. Mirabeau, le comte de. Courrier de Provence. Lettres 

de M. le Comte de Mirabeau a ses commettants 25 

VIII. Prods-verbal de Vassemblee nationale 30 

IX. Seance tenue par le roi dans la salle des etats-generaux . 32 
X. Barere, Bertrand. Le point du jour •. 44 



THE ROYAL SESSION OF JUNE 23, 1789. 



I. 

Neckee, Jacques. Be la revolution frangaise. 4 vols. Paris, 1797. 

Necker was born in Geneva in 1732 and died at Coppet, Switzerland, 
in 1804. Early in life he entered a Paris banking house as a clerk. In 
time he built up a large banking business of his own, made his fortune 
and acquired a great reputation as a financier. In 1776, he was made 
minister of finance by Louis XVI and held office until 1781. Matters 
went from bad to worse and, when the states general were announced 
in 1788, Necker was recalled to office. He was, however, only a banker, 
and a statesman was needed to guide the French people through the 
great crisis of revolution. After a pitiful struggle of two years, Necker 
resigned in the fall of 1790 and left France a humiliated and disappointed 
man, his reputation wrecked and his popularity so completely gone that 
his departure was barely noticed. 

The work from which the following extract was taken was written 
several years after his retirement. The last events referred to are those 
of October, 1795. In a note in the first volume (p. xii) Necker writes: 
"It will be noted that this work was finished at the end of 1795. Inde- 
cision on my part and some difficulty with the publishers retarded its 
appearance." The whole work is an appeal to the public and an apology 
for Necker's conduct. 

It was, as I have said, at a time when the interference of the 
monarch in the states general appeared indispensable, and at a 
time when all ideas, still vacillating, kept the government in 
anxiety, that I formed the project of a royal session. I hastened 
to communicate my ideas to the ministers who voted in the 
most intelligent manner and they gave them a support which 
bordered upon enthusiasm. They found the idea courageous, the 
procedure prudent and they told me so, they repeated it to me 
in a hundred different ways. There were, afterwards, regular 
committee meetings with the king, where the whole affair was 
discussed, and a full and entire approbation on the part of the 
prince was joined to the then unanimous opinion of his ministers. 

(7) 



8 , Source Studies on the French Revolution 

A council of state was fixed for the last reading and this coun- 
cil was held at Marly, whither the king had just gone. The 
reading took place ; one or two ministers made observations upon 
details of the plan, but without importance, and an almost per- 
fect agreement of opinions having reigned during the sitting of 
the council, it occupied itself with measures of execution, con- 
sidered whether there would be need for more than twenty-four 
hours for the preparation of the hall where the royal majesty 
was to be displayed and the absolute necessity of great haste 
was unanimously agreed upon. It only remained to fix the day 
and the next day but one was almost agreed upon. A last word 
of the king was ending the council and the portfolios were al- 
ready being closed, when an officer of the king's household entered 
unexpectedly; he approached the seat of the king, spoke to him 
in a low tone, and his majesty immediately arose, commanding 
his ministers to remain in their places and await his return. 
This message, at the moment when the council was nearly at an 
end, could not but surprise us all. M. de Montmorin, seated 
by me, said to me immediately : "We have accomplished nothing, 
the queen alone would be permitted to interrupt the council of 
state ; the princes have apparently won her over and wish to put 
off the decision of the king through her mediation.'' This pre- 
sumption of M. de Montmorin was only too natural, for already 
confused rumors had announced that the journey to Marly had 
been decided upon that the king might be controlled more easily 
and the plans of the ministry combated in his mind. Yet I 
doubted these repots, and, as had often happened to me, I 
trusted to the force of reason the care of combating and obviating 
ing all these efforts of the court, that others called intrigues, be- 
lieving that I knew well both their first causes and their first 
motives. 

The king re-entered the council chamber after a half hour's 
absence, and postponing the deliberation with which we had 
just been occupied until a first meeting of the council of stat\ 
he suspended his decision, his orders and everything was at a 






The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 9 

stand-still. He was, however, told of the difficulties that would 
arise without fail from this delay; it was represented to him 
that the rumor of a division among the persons admitted to his 
confidence would weaken the ascendency of his authority ; it was 
permitted to w T arn him that in the midst of the public fermenta- 
tion, hesitations and uncertainties would multiply suspicions and 
would, also give to party leaders all the time necessary to pre- 
pare a redoubtable opposition. The king persisted in his deter- 
mination. The new council of state was held two days after at 
Versailles and his majesty judged it fitting to call there, not only 
his ordinary ministers, but also the two princes, his brothers, and 
four magistrates who had never had a seat in the council. 

We saw at once that a plan had been formed to defeat our 
measures and to attack the project adopted by the ministry and 
approved by his majesty. Secret conferences had been held, the 
king had been worked upon and already his opinion appeared 
changed. It was principally the union of the orders that they 
wished to prevent. I believe that I have shown its expediency 
and necessity, so I will not recall the arguments that I em- 
ployed to plead this cause. The ministers then in office, most 
distinguished by their intellect and wisdom, sustained me with 
firmness and at first only an uncertain advantage was gained over 
us. The king decided only, that to find a means of conciliat- 
ing the different views discussed in his presence, they should re- 
assemble at the house of the guard of the seals, and one of the 
magistrates called to the council by way of exception was 
charged to consult with me more particularly. We saw one 
another. I yielded upon everything that was not an absolute 
necessity in my eyes; and yet each one of these compliances was 
painful to me, although I was persuaded that the fault of my 
project was its too great boldness under the circumstances. 
We separated after a detailed discussion, which ended by an en- 
tire accord. He appeared to me fully persuaded that no other 
change could be asked without changing the nature of the project, 
and I believed for the second time that evervthing; was ended. I 



10 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

was mistaken. So much was done and always on the same side, 
that in a period of twice twenty-four hours, and on the eve of the 
royal session, the king was prevailed upon not to require the re- 
union of the orders, not to require it under any condition, and 
to adopt a system absolutely opposed. (I, 284-290.) 

II. 

Leouzon le Due. L. Gorrespondance diplomatique du baron de Stael- 
Holstein. Paris, 1881. 

Stael-Holstein was the Swedish ambassador at the French court in 
the years 1783-1792. He was the son-in-law of Necker, his wife being the 
famous Madame de Stael. On account of his wife, he was naturally a 
partisan of Necker's and not in sympathy with the court intrigues against 
him and against the revolution. This was so well understood in Sweden 
that the king, who was hostile to the revolution, placed no confidence 
in his dispatches and gave him no confidential information. He was 
encouraged by his own court that the projects of the revolutionists, as 
represented by Necker, might become known to the courts of Sweden 
and France. The king and queen of France were informed of the situa- 
tion and were on their guard against the ambassador. 

The following extract is taken from a letter addressed to the king 
of Sweden by Stael-Holstein. The original is in the royal archives in 
Sweden. 

No. 116, June 25. 
The plan of conciliation of M. Necker, which was favorable to 
the third estate, was adopted last Friday by the king, when Sun- 
day, Monsieur and the comte d'Artois came into the council. 
Both, and especially the latter, were of the opinion that it should 
be modified in such a way that it would become inadmissible for 
the third estate and very favorable to the protestations of the 
two other privileged orders. The royal session was adjourned to 
the next day on account of the resistance M. Necker made to any 
changes. Monday there was a new council. The comte d'Artois, 
strengthened by the success of the evening and thinking that 
he had gained the queen for his side, was more violent than ever. 
The guard of the seals, Villedeuil, the minister of Paris and 
the four councillors of state supported him, and the king decided 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 11 

to maintain the ancient constitution, that is to say, the custom 
of the three orders, with exceptions,, which he was contented to 
ask and not to command. One would scarcely believe that the 
cointe d'Artois could have brought himself to advise a course 
which would compromise so cruelly the royal authority and whose 
baleful results were incalculable. This conduct is all the more 
condemnable and inconsiderate when one thinks that its prim 
cipal end was to disgust M. decker to the point of forcing him 
to ask for his dismissal, which he would have done immediately 
had he not been restrained at this time by the fear of the fright- 
ful misfortunes that his withdrawal would bring in its train. He 
believed that he should give it only at the moment when he had 
lost all hope of being useful to the nation, to which he was de 
voted But profoundly wounded by such conduct, he resolved not 
to appear at the royal session. This extreme course announced 
to the king and to all the nation that he did not approve the 
plans that had been proposed. The third estate, after having 
heard the declaration of the king, passed a decree by which it 
rejected in full the plan that his majesty had proposed to it. 
Meanwhile, the report had spread that the king having declined 
to accept the plan of Necker, he had chosen the alternative of 
^ing. This news very soon spread a universal alarm. All 
of the third estate and a part of the nobility came to him. Two 
thousand persons were at his door. The king and the queen, not 
doubting but that M. Keeker wished to give his resignation, sent 
for him. The third estate, the people, acompanied him with cries 
to the chateau. Necker entered. The king and the queen ur- 
gently asked him to remain, making a thousand promises of con- 
fidence, due perhaps more to the moment than to their true in- 
tention. Urged by his duty of preserving as far as he was able 
the fortunes of an infinite number of families, who had loaned 
money to the king only through the confidence that they had m 
him ; urged by the nation and by the king, he promised to re- 
main. When he left, this news spread and never have the trans 
ports of the public gone farther, never has the enthusiasm of a 



12 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

nation had a more touching character. His house was illumi- 
nated and the name of the king appeared there and his also. At 
the same time, it was learned that at Paris, the populace was in 
such despair at losing Necker that the greatest misfortunes were 
to be feared, if he persisted in his resolution. t I am, however, 
still ignorant as to whether he has acquired the necessary as- 
cendency to struggle against the intrigue of the comte d'Artois. 
The majority of the clergy went to the national assembly yes- 
terday, and this morning forty-seven noblemen, among whom the 
due d'Orleans and the greatest names of France are counted. 
The majority of the nobility and the minority of the clergy re- 
solved to accept the plans of the king as his majesty proposed 
them. The third estate, having now become the national as- 
sembly, will not accept them. But as the great dispute among 
them is as to whether they shall deliberate in common upon the 
organization of the states general, it is hoped that the king will 
ask the nobility to renounce this modification of his plan and 
there will only remain the statement of seignorial rights for the 
nobility and matters of religion for the clergy. All will be 
agreed. The time is very critical, for the people grossly insulted 
the archbishop of Paris yesterday, and if they are not stopped, 
they will take this culpable manner of forcing action. It is un- 
fortunate that the people mix in these affairs, but when once 
affairs reach such a point, the people are sovereign. (103-105.) 



III. 

Kovalevsky, Massimo. I dispacci degli ambasciatori veneti alia corte di 
Francia durante la rivoluzione. Torino, 1895. 
In 1789, the representative of the Venetian republic in France was 
Antonio Capello. No better accounts of the events taking place in the 
capitals of Europe during the seventeenth century than those found in 
the dispatches of the Venetian ambassadors were ever written to any 
home government by its representative abroad. The Venetian ambassa- 
dors were men of experience and spared no pains to inform their gov- 
ernment upon all matters of importance. The dispatches of Capello and 
his successors form one of the most valuable contemporary records of 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 13 

the revolution that has yet been published. Capello wrote every week 
from Paris, giving a careful account of the movement of events. Al- 
though a conservative, e\en a timid man, and somewhat fearful for his 
personal safety, he tried to do full justice to the revolution and to the 
third estate and to give a true account of what was happening in France. 
The original of this letter is found in the Venetian archives. 

Number 187. 
Tuesday, the 23d of the present month, was a very interesting 
day, as I have informed the Most Excellent Senate in my respect- 
ful communication. His majesty held the royal session at 9 
o'clock in the morning. After a brief discourse, in which he said 
that it was time to stop the effect of exaggerated pretenses, that 
he owed it to the constitution of the kingdom to repress the at- 
tacks that were made upon it, the guard of the seals read a 
declaration of the king containing thirty-five articles, and this 
annuls the action taken by the third estate. Then the sovereign 
declared that he was going to manifest his wishes, expressed in 
fifteen articles, which the guard of the seals read and which I 
have the honor to send to your Excellency, together with the other 
one within the same wrapper. The intentions of the king and 
the things asked for were truly excellent in themselves, but this 
was not the moment to present them. At the close of the general 
assembly, the third estate, or the commons, remained in the hall 
and almost unanimously passed the declaration that the national 
assembly persisted in its preceding decisions. As this general as- 
sembly took place contrary to the judgment of M. Necker, who 
knew well what the consequences of it would be, he asked the 
king to excuse him from being present at the assembly, at the end 
of which he unexpectedly asked for his dismissal. The king was 
hesitating whether he should grant it or not, when, an hour be- 
fore midnight, the people of Versailles, having learned of what 
had taken place that day, flocked in the greatest numbers to the 
chateau, calling out, "Long live Necker." Then the king and 
the queen asked that he be called, and it was only at the sight 
of him, and his assurance that he would continue in the ministry, 
that the multitude dispersed. There was a rumor that the 



14 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

princes, frightened at the sight of so menacing a populace, called 
to arms and that the soldiers -did not wish to obey, but that is 
false. It is very true that the French guards, having gone be- 
yond all limits of subordination caused a great scandal in Paris, 
running about the city intoxicated, and crying, "Long live the 
third estate!" which served to encourage the frenzied people 
greatly. But the end of this revolution, which menaced the pub- 
lic tranquility, was fortunate. The day after the royal assembly, 
the majority of the clergy followed the prudent resolution of 
uniting with the third estate, where they were received with 
transports of joy. Thursdaj^, the due d'Or leans and a part of 
the nobility, to the number of forty-seven, came, also, to unite 
with the two orders, that is, with the third estate and with the 
majority of the clergy, and they were received with tears. 

Then the assembly considered the verification of the credentials 
in common and passed decrees that will be spoken of at another 
time. To render this union of the three orders in the hall of the 
states general complete, his majesty wrote a letter Saturday 
morning to the majority of the nobility and to the minority of 
the clergy, and both passed a resolution that day to defer to 
the invitation of the king, and to go immediately, without reserve 
or protest, to the common hall to unite with the national as- 
sembly. When the people heard the news of the complete union, 
they were joyful; they went in a crowd to the palace, crying in 
all the courts of the castle, "Long live the king." And when the 
king and then the queen showed themselves upon the balcony, 
the acclamations redoubled, at which token the sovereigns wept 
for joy. This same report having immediately spread in Paris, 
produced great cheerfulness, especially in the order of the third 
estate; but now the greatest question will be this, whether they 
will vote by order or by head, and then it is necessary to see how 
the third estate will bear itself after this victory, moderation 
not being a virtue of the people. (29-31.) 
Paris, June 29, 1789. 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 15 



IV. 

Desmoulins. Camille. Oeuvres. 3 vols. Paris, 1886. 

Camille Desmoulins was a young Paris lawyer, twenty-nine years of 
age in 1789. He was poor and without much practice. He was an 
enthusiastic supporter of the revolution both in word and deed, writing 
some of the most remarkable pamphlets produced during this stormy 
time and finally perishing on the guillotine. When he wrote the follow- 
ing letter, he was unknown, having neither made his famous call to 
arms (July 12) nor written his pamphlets. The extract given below is 
taken from a letter to his father. I have not been able to locate the 
original manuscript. 

June 24, 1789. 
I passed Monday and Tuesday at Versailles. Monday it was 
announced to us on our arrival, that the royal session was ad- 
journed. It rained. Guards prevented the deputies from enter- 
ing their hall. It was a frightful spectacle for the good citizens 
to see our worthy representatives running in the streets without 
knowing where to assemble. The Recollects had the shameless- 
ness to refuse their church. The curate of Saint-Louis offered 
his. There I was a witness of one of the most beautiful spec- 
tacles that I have seen in my life, the union of 149 deputies of 
the clergy. There were many touching discourses on all sides 
Abbe Oge is among the number of curates faithful to the com- 
mons. The curate of Saint Martin de Koyon remained with the 
bishop of Laon in the ecclesiastical minority. The next morning. 
Versailles was overrun by the crowd of strangers gathered for the 
session. The archbishop of Paris and the guard of the seals were 
hooted at, derided, spit upon, and so abused that they would 
have perished from rage and shame, if they had had any spirit. 
Paporet, who accompanied the guard of the seals in the capacity 
of syndic of the secretaries of the king, died suddenly from the 
strain which the general hooting with which they had just regaled 
monseigneur made upon him. The prince of Conde was slightly 
hooted ; Linguet, recognized in the hall into which he had glided, 
was seized by the shoulders and expelled by the deputies from 



16 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

their midst. It is fortunate for him that the people did not 
recognize him. In the evening, D'Espremenil came near being 
overpowered, and the abbe Maury was sheltered from the fury of 
the people and owed his safety simply to the vigor of a curate 
who picked him up and threw him into the coach of the arch- 
bishop of Aries. 

The king came. As M. Necker did not precede him, we were in 
consternation. A handful of paid children ran beside the car- 
riage crying : "Long live the king !" Some valets, some spies joined 
in the chorus; all the respectable people and the crowd kept 
silent. The session lasted thirty-five minutes. The king an- 
nulled all that the third estate had done, threw an apple of dis- 
cord among the three orders, proposed 53 articles of an artificial 
edict where he pretended to grant a part of what the cahiers de- 
manded. He ended by saying: No remonstrances and dismissed 
the session. The nobles applauded, a good part of the clergy 
did the same. The most gloomy silence in the third estate. The 
two orders went out, with the exception of thirty or forty 
deputies avIio remained with the third estate. It was eleven 
o'clock. The third estate remained assembled until three o'clock. 
It protested, confirmed the deliberations of the 17th, and an- 
nulled everything that had just been done. M. de Breze came to 
tell them to separate : "The king," said Mirabeau, "can have 
our throats cut; tell him that we are awaiting death; but he 
cannot hope to separate us until we have made the constitution." 
M. de Breze came a second time; the same reply and they con- 
tinued their deliberations. They declared by a second decree thai 
their persons were sacred and inviolable; by a third decree, they 
declared that they could not obey the will of the prince, and 
decreed that the door of the assembly should always be open to 
the nation. In a word, all showed a Koman firmness and de- 
cided to seal our liberties with their blood. All Paris is in an 
uproar, the Palais-Koyal is as full as an egg; the due d'Orleans 
is applauded everywhere with rapture. The king passes, no one 
says a word; M. Bailly, president of the assembly, appears; every- 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 17 

body clap their hands; they cry: "Long live the nation!" M. 
Neeker gave his resignation ; all the deputies went yesterday even- 
ing to say farewell; they burst into tears around him. The influx 
into the court of the ministers was immense. The court was 
frightened, they called to arms, the soldiers made no movement, 
the king thought he was lost. (II, 79-82.) 

V. 

Bailly, J. S. Memoires. 3 vols. Paris, 1821. 

Jean-Sylvain Bailly was born in Paris in 1736. He was already cele- 
brated among the astronomers of his day and a member of three French 
academies when, in 1789, the electors of the third estate of Paris chose 
him as one of their representatives to the assembly of the states general 
at Versailles. Bailly was the first president of the national assembly, 
presiding over it on the famous days of June 20, 22 and 23. He was 
mayor of Paris from July, 1789, to November, 1791. His Memoires de- 
scribing the events of 1789 (April to October), were written in 1792, 
between January and June, while Bailly was living in the country near 
Nantes. The original manuscript is in the library of the chamber of 
deputies in Paris. 

Tuesday, June 23d. 
We had been given notice that the first two orders would enter 
by the avenue entrance, the commons by an opposite door, facing 
the Rue des chantiers, and that the latter would gather in a 
wooden gallery, which served as a vestibule to this door and 
where there was ordinarily a cafe. There was nothing to be 
done about this inconvenience; but it was felt. They (the com- 
mons) met there then. I arrived in good season. We waited 
a very long time. Murmurs began to be heard. This gallery 
was too small to contain all the deputies, with whom in truth, 
were a number of curious people in short mantles, imitating the 
costume of the deputies. Many of the deputies were outside in 
the rain. The murmurs redoubled. It was my place to knock 
at the door; the bodyguards of the post opened to me, and told 
me that we could enter very soon. Nevertheless, the indigna- 
tion grew more marked. There was talk of withdrawing. I 
2 



18 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

rapped again and asked for the grand master of ceremonies; 
some one replied that it was not known where he was. I was 
very anxious; I saw that it was possible and even natural that 
the injured commons Avould withdraw. And then what an impru- 
dent thing for the ministry to force the king, either to hold the 
meeting in their absence, or to discontinue it in default of their 
presence! Very soon the intention to withdraw was manifested 
by loud shouts. The care of the dignity of the commons rested 
upon me. I rapped again; I asked for the commanding officer. 
The captain of the guards, due de Guiche, appeared. I said to 
him: "Sir, you have admittance to the interior; I beg of you 
to find M. de Breze and to warn him that the representatives of 
the nation can not remain where they are; that they will not 
wait any longer, and if they are not admitted immediately, they 
are going to withdraw." A moment after, the door was opened ; 
M. de Breze came to receive us and we entered. I took the lead, 
walking between the grand master and the master of ceremonies, 
and followed by all the members of the national assembly, two 
by two, and in the most profound silence. On the way, I made 
M. de Breze feel all the inconsiderateness and the danger of the 
measures which had been taken. He informed me that an acci- 
dent, the sudden death of M. Paporet, one of the secretaries of the 
king, and to whom they had tried to give some aid, had retarded 
the entrance; which was quite natural. But, upon entering, we 
found the two other orders in place and I have always been per- 
suaded that we had been made to wait thus, in order to allow 
them time to take their places, for fear that the commons, con- 
stituted as a national assembly, would wish to take the first 
places. The coming of the king was not long delayed; he took 

off his hat, bowed and said : 

Immediately after this discourse, the king had a first declara- 
tion read; but first, the guard of the seals, having advanced to 
the throne, and spoken to the king upon bended knee, according 
to the ordinary custom, said : "The king orders you to put on your 
hats." I put on my hat; a number of deputies from the com- 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 19 

mons did the same; neither the nobility nor the clergy did so. 
Doubtless, in the frivolous love of distinctions, they no longer 
cared to keep their hats on in the presence of the king, when we 
had our hats on. By putting on my hat, I had wished to pre- 
serve and indicate our rights. As soon as I saw the majority 
without hats, I took my hat off, and everybody remained un- 
covered 

(Here follows the substance of the declarations.) That done 
the king spoke again 

Then the king had a second declaration read, entitled, "Declara- 
tion of the Intentions of the King," and which contains the favors 
that he grants his people. It offers a plan of reform of abuses, a 
plan of administration, and the rights granted rather than due 
the nation. 

It was astonishing that in speaking to the assembled nation, the 
king was made to say, "the king wishes, the king understands" ; 
that he had been made to annul decrees made by the nation, when 
the supreme leader, the hereditary representative of the nation, 
can only have a veto; that in the second declaration, which is a 
species of new constitutioD, no part in the legislative power is 
given to the states general; the necessity of the consent of the 
nation to taxation appears to be a concession rather than a recog- 
nition of the national right. Many deputies noticed the expres- 
sions, the favours that the king grants to his people; can the 
king, sole master and sole provisory legislator in the absence of 
the nation, speak thus to the nation assembled in states gen- 
eral? (Courrier cle Provence, lettre 13.) During this reading, 
the commons remained in the most profound silence, while the two 
declarations were accompanied and followed by much applause 
from the majority of the nobility and the minority of the clergy; 
this was right, since it was their work in part. The suspicion 
was justified because the articles VIII and IX reserve for a sepa- 
rate deliberation the things which particularly interested the two 
orders, the feudal and seignorial rights, the useful rights and 
honorific prerogatives of the first two orders, ecclesiastical dis- 



20 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

cipline, the regime of the secular and regular bodies; that meant 
that all that was an affair of privileged classes, and not national 
affairs ; it was to establish the first two orders as sovereign judges 
in their own cause. (Ibid.) The reading ended, the king spoke 
again. ..... 

Unfortunate prince, where have you been advised and how 
much have you been deceived ! After the departure of the king, 
the entire nobility and part of the clergy withdrew, the com- 
mons remained in their place, calm and in silence. The grand 
master of ceremonies approached me, and said to me: "Sir, you 
have heard the order of the king?" I replied to him: "Sir, the 
assembly adjourned to meet after the royal session; I can not 
dissolve it until it has deliberated." "Is that your reply, and am 
I to communicate it to the king?" "Yes, sir." And I added to 
my colleagues who were around me: "I believe that an assembly 
of the nation can not receive an order." It was said and re- 
peated that I had made this reply to M. de Breze. The official 
reply to his message is that which I have just reported. I re- 
spected the king too much to make such a reply ; I knew too well 
the regard that a president owes to the assembly to commit it 
thus without its consent. It was for the assembly and not for 
me to weigh, consider and declare its rights. In truth, Mirabeau 
spoke, and becoming angry with the grand master of ceremonies, 
said about what has since been repeated : "Go tell those Avho sent 
you that the force of bayonets is nothing against the will of the 
nation." This response has been greatly praised, which is not a 
reply, but a retort that he should not have made, that he had no 
right to make, since the president alone should have spoken, and 
which, at the same time that it was out of place, was beyond all 
moderation. Moderation requires that one should reply only to 
that which is said. Had bayonets been spoken of, had force been 
announced, had a menace escaped from the mouth of M. de Breze? 
No. He recalled, according to his duty, an order of the king. 
Had the king the right to give this order ? The assembly by con- 
tinuing the session decided that he had not ; and in declaring that 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 21 

the assembly could not be separated before having deliberated, I 
had preserved for it its rights and I had continued in the modera- 
tion from which an assembly and its president should never 
deviate. 

Workmen began to make the necessary changes in the hall, 
after having consulted the assembly, I had an order given ther 
to stop. It was proposed to adjourn until the next day to discuss 
the declaration of the king. This advice was rejected as soon as 
proposed. M. Camus disclosed a firmer opinion, in proposing to 
declare that the assembly persisted in its preceding decrees, while 
postponing the session to the next day. Abbe Sieves said : "You 
are today what you were yesterday." M. Barnave observed "that 
the decrees of the assembly depended only upon the assembly. 
The first has declared what you are, the second decides upon the 
imposts that you alone can consent to, the third is an oath that 
prescribes your duty. This is not a case of sanction. The king 
can not destroy what he can not sanction." The discussion was 
not long. The assembly, in admirable order and a majestic 
silence, in the presence of forty or fifty witnesses, who were upon 
the platform, adopting the motion of M. Camus, declared unani- 
mously that it persisted in its preceding decrees 

Mirabeau made a motion to declare the inviolability of the 
deputies, and there was a great discussion. I myself opposed it, 
with the idea that inviolability was sufficiently established by the 
fact, and that every precaution which would announce uneasiness 
and display doubt, was apt only to weaken it. Mirabeau replied 
to me with heat: "You do not know to what you expose yourself! 
If you do not carry the decree, sixty deputies, and you first of 
all, will be arrested this night." We were told afterwards, but I 
have not had occasion to verify the fact, that while we deliber- 
ated, the bodyguard received an order to march and to form in 
the avenue before the hall, and that afterward they had had a 
counter-order. However it may be, the motion of Mirabeau was 
adopted, and the following decree was passed 

I finally came over to this opinion, because I felt that if in- 



22 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

violability did not need to be declared, it was nevertheless good 
to make a law that could become a weapon in the hands of each 
one of the dispersed deputies, a law which should give notice that 
the nation existed to avenge its representatives, and which would 
frighten those who would think of rendering themselves insti- 
gators of arbitrary and violent measures. These two decrees 
were passed in the presence of many members of the clergy. 
Those whose credentials ' were verified gave their votes at the 
time they gave their opinions and the others asked that men- 
tion might be made of their presence. And the assembly having 
adjourned to the next day, I closed the session. (T, 206-223.) 



VI. 

Mege, Feajncisque. Gaultier cle Biauzat, sa vie et sa corresponclance. 2 
vols. Paris, 1890. 

Gaultier cle Biauzat, a representative of the third estate from Clermont- 
Ferrand, was born in that city in 1739. During the session of the 
assembly, he sent frequent — at first, almost daily — bulletins to his con- 
stituents, describing the course of events at Versailles and at Paris. The 
following extract is translated from one of these letters. The original 
is found in the library at Clermont. 

CONTINUATION OF THE JOURNAL OF THE STATES GENERAL. 

Session of Tuesday, June 23, 1789. 

Everything was arranged for the good of the kingdom with the 
exception of some difficulties which were still left to be dealt 
with upon the subject of the honorary distinctions of the orders, 
when some ill-intentioned persons sought to frighten the king. 
For that reason the transactions intended for conciliation were 
presented to him as capable of unsettling the throne. 

The queen, who was the first object of the intrigue, was in- 
duced to present herself before the king with the dauphin and 
interest the father in maintaining the rights of the crown, 
that were said to be attacked. 

The success of the evil thinkers was kept secret and with 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 23 

caution like the Brienne system, and we were given the fright- 
ful spectacle today of the triumph of the aristocracy. The 
king, deceived, consecrated pretentions destructive of the mon- 
archy. 

There were no longer invitations to a general reunion. The 
too feeble insinuations of the discourse ot May 5th for the 
vote by head have been replaced by imperative instructions 
to vote by order, except in some few cases; and the distinction 
of the orders, deliberating separately with the veto badly veiled, 
has been expressly declared constitutional. 

To bring the people over to the party of the disguised aristoc- 
racy, the skillful perfidy has been used of gathering some of 
the principal views of our cahiers and forming from them a 
declaration of the desires of the king, in order that it may ap- 
pear that the government is mindful of the public good and 
also to authorize the announcement, made in too expressive 
terms, that the states general can be dispensed with. 

I believe that I have, spoken to you of a project which trans- 
pired the 1.6th of this month. Here is its execution. It is a 
production after the manner of Brienne, that is to say, much 
evil covered by an apparent and seducing good. 

The deputies were obliged to pass through a body of troops 
to reach the hall of estates, without even having the liberty 
of choosing from the three avenues that led there and had 
been open to all up to this day. 

The high clergy and the nobility submitted to the call by 
bailliages.* In this interval, which lasted nearly an hour 
and a half, the deputies of the commons were outdoors in the 
rain. They refused to submit to the call. They then entered 
and took their seats as usual. 

The wishes of the king having been announced, he withdrew 
with very different ideas from those which should have de- 
lighted him the 4th and 5th of May. 

The evil-minded among the clergy and nobility applauded 

*A judicial district. 



24 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

■ 

twice at the reading of the fruit of their manoeuvres. The 
others and the whole assembly of the deputies of the commons 
maintained a gloomy silence. 

One of the last expressions of the king was for us to meet 
tomorrow in separate chambers. The clergy went out after 
the king. The nobility filed out following the clergy. And we 
remained unmoved. It was attempted to fatigue us by noise 
and dust. A multitude of workmen was employed for that 
reason to take down the throne and theatre and remove its 
tapestries. We suffered in silence. 

M. de Breze then came to invite us verbally, on the part of 
the king, to retire. The president replied that the national as- 
sembly was going to deliberate. 

We have deliberated and decreed that we persist in our 
preceding decrees, and we declared all the members of the as- 
sembly under the safeguard of the nation 

Wednesday, June 24. — Yesterday's session was generally un- 
expected. MM. Necker and de Montmorin offered their resigna- 
tions. The king himself saw the danger of accepting them. 
The best element here called upon M. Necker to beg him to 
endure the results of his involuntary wrongs. Sent for by the 
queen and then by the king, he was accompanied by a great 
multitude of people, all respectable, who traversed the apart- 
ments which led to that of the king with him and in spite of him 
and he was reconducted home as in a triumph. 

We have again been surrounded today by bayonets. But our 
grief gave place to joy when we saw the majority of the clergy 
bring its registers and enter our hall majestically. The minority 
is deliberating at the present time (five o'clock in the evening) 
upon a motion, the substance of which is that they shall consti- 
tute themselves as the true chamber of the clergy under the pre- 
text that it has the greatest numbr of bishops. 

Attracted to the street by an unexpected noise, I have just 
seen an immense populace and troops which filled my neighbor- 
hood. 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 25 

The archbishop of Paris was hooted at in going from the as- 
sembly of the clergy and the populace accompanied him to the 
end of my street where he lives. Some stones were thrown at his 
carriage and at his windows. I believed it was my duty to speak 
to the groups of people, as many of my colleagues did, and tran- 
quility was restored. 

This same day, at midnight.— I have just learned, at the 
coucher of the king that the archbishop of Paris went to carry to 
him his complaints. I do not know against whom. I had a 
conversation with his brother, whom I did not know, and I was 
obliged to contradict a too violent addition to the recital of the 
scene by his brother. 

I learned that the minority of the nobility will return to us 
tomorrow and I prophesy that we shall declare ourselves the 
states general before noon. 

I am, with respect, etc., 

Gaultier de Biauzat. 

25, nine o'clock in the morning. — Some hussars and armed 
members of the Garde-francaise have just arrived. (II, 135-139.) 



VII. 

Mieabeau, le coMTE de. Gourrier de Provence. Lettres de M. le comte de 
Mirabeau a ses commettants. 18 vols. Paris, 1789-1791. 

Comte de Mirabeau, representative of the third estate of Aix en 
Provence, was born in 1749. His life up to 1789 had been of such a 
character that altho he was easily the leader in the national assembly 
in political genius and oratorical power, he was distrusted and the 
measures that he proposed did not receive the consideration that they 
deserved. On arriving in Versailles, Mirabeau began the publication of 
a newspaper called the Etats-generaux. After two numbers had been 
published, the government forbade him to continue it. He changed the 
name to Lettres de M. le comte de Mirabeau & ses commettants. This 
title was continued for nineteen numbers, when the paper received its 
final title of Gourrier de Provence. The paper appeared twice a week. 
The extract that follows is taken from the number dealing with the 
events of June 23, 24, and 25, 1789, and is the thirteenth "letter." Early 
in the history of the enterprise, Mirabeau made use of two men of ability, 



26 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

Swiss exiles from Geneva, in writing the paper. They were MM. Dumont 
and Duroverai. Dumont states (Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, p. 102), "Be- 
ginning with the eleventh letter of Mirabeau to his constituents, it was 
always Duroverai or myself who edited them." 
Altho quite rare, complete sets of the paper are still to be had.. 

Finally the 23d all the machinery of arbitrary power is dis- 
played; a large guard surrounds the hall of the states general, 
barriers are established; and at a time when everything ought 
to inspire confidence, the only thought is to impart terror. The 
door of the hall is opened again to the representatives of the 
nation, but it is severely forbidden to the public. The king- 
appears. A gloomy silence is observed; he does not receive 
that accustomed tribute of vows and of homage, which an- 
nounce to him the contentment of his people and which he will 
always obtain when perfidious counsel does not mislead his 
judgment. To what a degree must it not have been deceived to 
adopt forms so despotic, after having solemnly abjured des- 
potism ! 

We do not fear to say it, suggestions foreign to his majesty 
are recognized clearly in the discourses that he has pronounced 
in the royal session. These discourses are public and without 
doubt it is permitted to discuss the principles which they con- 
tain, principles that his majesty would never have sustained 
if he were not surrounded, by aristocrats and ministers sworn 
to despotism. We are all the more authorized to believe it, 
because one finds in these discourses expressions truly paternal, 
maxims of public good which contrast with the formulas of 
tyranny. 

In the opening speech of the session, his majesty prides him- 
self that the two privileged orders will be the first to pro- 
pose a union of opinion and sentiment that he regards as neces- 
sary in the present crisis. 

In the declaration, the king orders that three chambers be 
formed and that deliberation be by order. Are not these two 
arrangements contradictory? Can one expect this union which 
is so desirable of opinion and sentiment while deliberating by 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 27 

orders? Moreover, did the ministers believe that in speaking 
to the national assembly that it was permissible for the king 
to make use of the imperative expressions which have been 
for so long a time abused in the lits de justice? Can the king 
annul the deliberation of the national assembly? Even in 
admitting the royal veto, is not this right limited to a sim- 
ple opposition to the decrees of this assembly; opposition which, 
in any case, could not be relative to its interior regime, and which 
by its very denomination excludes the right of setting aside or 
annulling ? 

If any one doubted that the aristocrats had drawn up this 
declaration under the name of the king or rather the statutes 
confirmative of their tyrannical privileges, let him read articles 
VIII and IX, he will there see that great care has been shown 
to take away the national will, the reform of the seignorial 
abuses and that the special consent of the clergy will be neces- 
sary for all arrangements which would interest religion, ec- 
clesiastical discipline, the regime of the orders and secular and 
regular bodies. 

But are not these objects of general interest and should there 
be a question of particular interest in a national assembly? 
Should those who have particular interests to defend present them- 
selves there? Let them address petitions, if they believe their 
pretentions legitimate; but an opposition of private interest 
against the general interest is a monstrous thing, and conse- 
quently it can not be the intention of the king. 

No more can it be in accord with his views that the public 
be excluded from the sessions. Why should we keep the knowl- 
edge of our deliberations from it? What do these words, de- 
cency, good order, mean, stated in article XV? Here the in- 
decency would be in the mystery, the disorder, in the secret 
of our operations. This irregular prohibition could have been 
imagined only by those who fear that their guilty manoeuvres 
may be unveiled and who could not show themselves without 
blushing. 



28 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

After this declaration of imperative wishes, the king pro- 
nounced a discourse, in which this strange sentence was no- 
ticed: "I have also wished, gentlemen, to bring to your attenr 
tion again, the different favors that I grant my people"; as if 
the rights of the people were favors of kings! Then a dec- 
laration of the intentions of the king was read, in which some 
are found truly wise and popular. But since when has the 
executive power had the initiative of laws? Is it wished to 
liken us to an assembly of notables? 

Besides, the responsibility of the ministers solemnly demanded 
by the nation is not to be found in this declaration; no partici- 
pation whatever of the states general in the legislative power 
is even spoken of. Nothing positive upon the liberty of the 
press ; no mention . of the eternai breach of trust, of the se- 
crecy of letters, of the disastrous lottery tax; but, on the other 
hand, the formal intention of preserving the lettres de cachet 
with useless modifications. Finally the king declares himself 
the arbiter of what is property or what; is not, independently 
of the nature of things. "His majesty expressly comprises under 
the name of property, the tithes, revenues, annuities, feudal and 
seignorial rights and dues." 

Here we ought to observe that at the reading of this article, 
some nobles had the indecency to applaud and to thus show 
that they have too much pride for their avarice, or too much 
avarice for their pride. It was only by means of "Silence, there !" 
that they were induced to restrain themselves. 

This declaration of the intentions of his majesty was followed 
by a third discourse, in which the king said to the representa- 
tives of the nation : 

So the king, not content to prescribe laws to the states general, 
and even their by-laws, whether interior or exterior, speaks only 
by this formula: J will, I for~bid, I order; so that never has a 
monarch arrogated to himself more formally all powers without 
limit and without partition. And it is a good king that cour- 
tiers have dared counsel to try such a regime upon the nation 
that he has felt the need of convoking! 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 29 

But was it not, then, useless to assemble the representatives 
of the people, in order to arrive at such an end? If the mon- 
arch is free to make laws based upon the cahiers of the different 
bailliages, the ministers had only to have them sent by post; or 
indeed was this formality necessary? Could they not continue 
the role of legislators that they have played up to this time? 
Persuaded of the beneficent intentions of his majesty, their last 
resource is to deceive him upon the means of execution, to per- 
suade him that he has need only of himself to effect the well- 
being of his kingdom. If, however, at the time the estates were 
summoned, at a time when the king was incontestably provisory 
legislator, they did not believe that it was permissible for him to 
determine the manner of the deliberations, by what right, today 
when a legislative assembly exists, do they wish to usurp the 
power of making laws, which does not pertain to them aad ought 
not to? 

The deputies of the nobility and a part of those of the clergy 
retired; the others remained in their seats. Very soon the mar- 
quis de Breze came to say to them: "Gentlemen, you know. the 
will of the king." At this one of the members of the commons, ad- 
dressing him said : "Yes, sir, we have heard the views that have 
been suggested to the king; and you can not be his representa- 
tive before the states general, you, who have no seat here, nor 
vote, nor right to speak, you are not the one to recall his dis- 
course to us. However, to avoid all equivocation and all delay, 
I declare to you that if you have been charged to compel us 
to withdraw from here, you ought to demand orders to employ 
force; for we will leave our seats only by the power of the 
bayonet." 

Then with one voice, all of the deputies shouted : Such is the 
will of the assembly. 

M. de Breze having withdrawn, M. le Camus made the motion 
to persist in the preceding decrees. It was ably and strongly 
supported by M. Barnave, and passed unanimously. 



30 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

The same deputy whose reply to the marquis de Breze we have 
reported, then made the following motion : 

This motion was adopted by a majority of four hundred and 
ninety-three votes against thirty-four, after a very short debate. 
(No. XIII.) 

VIII. 

Proces-verbal cle Vassemhlee nationale. Paris, 1789. 

This is the official record of the proceedings of the assembly, printed 
by the public printer. Notes of what occurred in each session were 
taken by the secretaries. After the meeting, the notes were worked up 
into a connected account, read to the assembly that errors might be 
corrected, and then printed. The text that follows was translated from 
"No. 5" — the Proces-verhal of each day was numbered — consisting of four 
pages, printed in 1789. 

CONTINUATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 

Tuesday, June 23, 1789, eleven A. M. 

The session held in the presence of the king, the clergy and 
the nobility being united in the national hall. 

The king having entered, delivered a discourse announcing 
the object of the session. He then had read by one of the sec- 
retaries of state, a declaration, containing various provisions, 
in fifteen articles, given at Versailles, the 23d of June. 

After the reading of this declaration, the king delivered a 
second discourse, which was followed by the reading, by one of 
the secretaries of state, of a second declaration, announced as 
the "Declaration of the Wishes of the King." It contained thirty- 
five articles, and was likewise given at Versailles, the 23d of June. 

The king delivered a third discourse and retired. 

A short time after the withdrawal of the king, a part of the 
clergy and nobility having retired, the grand master of cere- 
monies approached the president, and told him that he had 
heard the order of the king to retire. The president replied to 
him that he could not separate the assembly as it had not de- 
liberated freely upon the subject. The grand master of cere- 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 31 

monies said that he was going to give an account of this reply 
to the king. 

The assembly deliberating after the royal session, passed the 
following resolutions : 

"The national assembly unanimously declares its intention to 
persist in its preceding resolutions." 

"The national assembly declares that the person of each of the 
deputies is inviolable; that all individuals, all corporations, 
tribunal, court or commission that shall dare, during or after 
the present session, to pursue, to seek for, to arrest or have ar- 
rested, detain or have detained, a deputy, by reason of any propo- 
sitions, advice, opinions, or discourse made by him in the states 
general; as well as all persons who shall lend their aid to any 
of the said attempts by whomsoever they may be ordered, are 
infamous and traitors to the nation, and guilty of capital crime. 
The national assembly decrees that, in the aforesaid cases, it 
will take all the necessary measures to have sought out, pur- 
sued and punished those who may be its authors, instigators or 
executors." 

Moreover, the assembly adjourned the session until tomorrow 
at nine o'clock. 

These resolutions were passed in the presence of several of 
the clergy. Those whose credentials were verified, gave their 
votes and their opinions; and the others askd that mention be 
made of their presence. 

Bailly, President; Camus, Secretary; Pison der Galland, Jr., 
Secretary. (No. 5.) 



32 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

IX. 

Seance tenue par le roi dans la salle des etats-generaux, le 23 juin, 1789. 
Paris, 1789. 

This is the official document containing the speeches and declarations 
of the kind and printed in June, 1789. The translation was made from 
one of the original printed documents. 

Session held by the King in the Hall of the States General 

June 23, 1789. 

DISCOURSE OF THE KING. 

Gentlemen, I believed that I had done everything in my power 
for the good of my people, when I had taken the resolution to 
call you together; when I had surmounted all the difficulties 
with which your convocation was surrounded; when I had gone 
half way, so to speak, to meet the wishes of the nation, by show- 
ing beforehand what I wished to do for its happiness. 

It seemed as though you had only to finish my work, and the 
nation awaited with impatience the moment when by conjuncture 
of the beneficent views of its sovereign and the intelligent zeal 
of its representatives, it was going to enjoy the prosperity that 
this union procures for it. 

The states general have been in session for nearly two months, 
and they have not yet been able to come to an understanding 
upon the preliminaries of their operations. A perfect intelli- 
gence ought to have been born from mere love of country, and 
a baneful division fills all minds with alarm. I wish to be- 
lieve and I like to think that the French are not changed. But, 
to avoid reproaching any of you, I assume that the renewing 
of the states general, after so long a term, the agitation which 
preceded it, the object of this convocation, so different from that 
which brought your ancestors together, the limitations in the 
instructions and many other circumstances, were bound neces- 
sarily to induce opposition, debates and exaggerated pretentions. 

I owe it to the common good of my kingdom, I owe it to 
myself to cause these baneful divisions to cease. It is with this 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 33 

resolution, gentlemen, that I assemble you again about me; it 
is as the common father of all my subjects, as the defender of 
the laws of my kingdom, that I come to trace again their true 
spirit and repress the attacks which have been aimed at them. 

But, gentlemen, after having clearly established the respect- 
ive rights of the different orders, I expect with the love of 
country of the first two orders, I expect with their attachment 
for my person, I expect with the knowledge that they have of 
the urgent evils of the state, that in affairs which concern the 
general good, they will be the first to propose a union of opinion 
and sentiment, which I regard as necessary in the actual crisis, 
which ought to effect the safety of the state. 

Declaration of the King concerning the Present Session of the 
States General, June 23, 1789. 

AETICLE I. 

The king wishes that the ancient distinction of the three orders 
of the state be preserved in its entirety, as essentially linked to 
the constitution of his kingdom; that the deputies, freely elected 
by each of the three orders, forming three chambers, deliberating 
by order, and being able, with the approval of the sovereign, 
to agree to deliberate in common, can alone be considered as 
forming the body of the representatives of the nation. As a re- 
sult, the king has declared null the resolutions passed by the 
deputies of the order of the third estate, the 17th of this month, 
as well as those which have followed them as illegal and uncon- 
stitutional. 

II. 

His majesty declares valid all the credentials verified or to be 
verified in each chamber, upon which there has not been raised 
nor will be raised any contest; his majesty orders that these be 
communicated by each order respectively to the other two orders. 

As for the credentials which might be contested in each order, 
and upon which the parties interested would appeal, it will be 
enacted, for the present session only of the states general, as will 
be hereafter ordered. 



34 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

III. 

The king sets aside and annuls, as anti-constitutional, contrary 
to the letters of convocation, and opposed to the interest of the 
state, the limitations of instructions which, by embarrassing the 
liberty of the deputies to the states general, would prevent them 
from adopting the forms of deliberation taken separately by order 
or in common, by the distinct wish of the three orders. 

IV. 

If, contrary to the intention of the king, some of the deputies 
nave taken the rash vow not to deviate from any form of delibera- 
tion whatever, his majesty leaves it to their conscience to .con- 
sider whether the provisions that he is going to present, deviate 
from the letter or from the spirit of the promise that they may 
have taken. 

V. 

The king permits the deputies who believe that they are em- 
barrassed by their instructions, to ask their constituents for new 
credentials; but his majesty enjoins them to remain in the states 
general while waiting, in order to be present at all the delibera- 
tions upon the pressing affairs of the state and to give consulta- 
tive advice. 

VI. 
His majesty declares that in the following sessions of the states 
general, he will never suffer the cahiers or the instructions to be 
considered imperative; they should be only simple instructions 
confided to the conscience and free opinion of the deputies who 
may have been chosen. 

VII. 

His majesty having exhorted the three orders, for the safety of 
the state, to unite during this session of estates only, to deliberate 
in common upon affairs of general utility, wishes to make his in- 
tentions known upon the manner of procedure. 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 35 

VIII. 

There will be particularly excepted from the affairs which 
can be treated in common, those that concern the ancient and 
constitutional rights of the three orders, the form of constitu- 
tion to give the next states general, the feudal and seignorial 
rights, the useful rights and honorary prerogatives of the two 
first orders. 

IX. 

The especial consent of the clergy will be necessary for all 
provisions which could interest religion, ecclesiastical discipline, 
the regime of the orders and secular and regular bodies. 

X. 

The decisions reached by the three orders united, upon the 
contested credentials, and upon which the interested parties 
would appeal to the states general, shall be reached by a majority 
vote; but, if two-thirds of the votes, in one of the three orders, 
protested against the deliberation of the assembly, the affair 
will be reported to the king, to be definitely decided by his 
majesty. 

XL 

If, with the view of facilitating the union of the three orders, 
they desired that the proposition that shall have been considered 
in common, should pass only by a majority of two-thirds of the 
votes, his majesty is disposed to authorize this form. 

XII. 

The affairs which will have been decided in the assembly of the 
three orders united will be taken up again the next day for de- 
liberation, if one hundred members of the assembly unite to ask 
for it. 

XIII. 

The king desires that, under these circumstances and to restore 
a conciliatory spirit, the three chambers commence by naming 



36 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

separately a commission composed of the number of deputies that 
they may judge suitable, to prepare the form and composition of 
the conference committee, which shall treat the different affairs. 

XIV. 

The general assembly of the deputies of the three orders will be 
presided over by the presidents chosen by each of the orders and 
according to their ordinary rank. 

XV. 

Good order, decency, and liberty of the ballot even, require 
that his majesty forbid, as he expressly does, that any person, 
other than the members of the three orders comprising the states 
general, should be present at their deliberations, whether they 
deliberate in common or separately. 

DISCOURSE OF THE KING. 

I have also wished, gentlemen, to have placed again under your 
eyes the different benefits that I grant to my people. It is not to 
circumscribe your zeal in the circle that I am going to trace; 
for I shall adopt with pleasure every other view of public good 
which will be proposed by the states general. I can say without 
deluding myself, that never has a king done so much for any 
nation ; but what other can better have merited by its sentiments, 
than the French nation ! I do not fear to say it ; those who, by 
exaggerated pretentions, or by unseasonable difficulties, would 
still retard the effect of my paternal intentions, would render 
themselves unworthy of being regarded as French. 

Declaration of the Intentions of the King. 

ARTICLE I. 

No new tax shall be established, no old one shall be continued 
beyond the term fixed by the laws, without the consent of the 
representatives of the nation. 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 37 

II. 

The new taxes which will be established, or the old ones which 
will be continued, shall hold only for the interval which will 
elapse until the time of the following session of the states general. 

III. 

As the borrowing of money might lead to an increase of taxes, 
no money shall be borrowed without the consent of the states 
general, under the condition, however, that in case of war, or 
other national danger, the sovereign shall have the right to bor- 
row without delay, to the amount of one hundred millions; for 
it is the formal intention of the king never to make the safety 
of his empire dependent upon any person. 

IV. 

The states general shall examine with care the situation of the 
finances and they shall demand all the information necessary to 
enlighten them perfectly. 

V. 

The statement of receipts and expenses shall be made public 
each year, in a form proposed by the states general and approved 
by his majesty. 

VI. 

The sums attributed to each department, shall be determined in 
a fixed and invariable manner, and the king submits to this gen- 
eral rule even the funds that are destined for the maintenance 
of his household. 

VII. 

The king wishes, in order to assure this fixity of the different 
expenses of the state, <that provisions suitable to accomplish this 
object be suggested to him by the states general; and his majesty 
will adopt them, if they are in accordance with the royal dignity 
and the indispensable celerity of the public service. 



38 Source Studies cm the French Revolution 

VIII. 

The representatives of a nation faithful to the laws of honor 
and probity, will make no attack upon public credit and the 
king expects from them that the confidence of the creditors of the 
state be assured and secured in the most authentic manner. 

IX. 

When the formal dispositions announced by the clergy and the. 
nobility, to renounce their pecuniary privileges, will have become 
a reality by their deliberations, it is the intention of the king 
to sanction them, and there will no longer exist any kind of 
privileges or distinctions in the payment of taxes. 

X. 

The king wishes that, to consecrate a disposition so important, 
the name of taille be abolished in the kingdom, and that this tax 
be joined either to the vingtiemes, or to any other land tax, or 
finally that it be replaced in some way, but always in just and 
equal proportions and without distinction of estate, rank ami 
birth. 

XI. 

The king wishes that the tax of franc-fief be abolished from the 
time when the revenues and fixed expenses of the state exactly 
balance. 

XII. 

All rights, without exeception, shall be constantly respected, 
and his majesty expressly understands under the name of rights, 
tithes, rents, annuities, feudal and seignorial rights and, in gen- 
eral, all the rights and prerogatives useful or honorary, attached 
to lands and fiefs or pertaining to persons. 

XIII. 
The first tvo orders of the state shall continue to enjoy ex- 
emption from personal charges, but the king would be pleased to 
have the states general consider means of converting this kind 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 39 

of charges into pecuniary contributions and that then all the 
orders of the state may he subjected equally to them. 

XIV. 

It is the intention of his majesty to determine, in accord with: 
the states general, what the employments and duties shall be 
which will preserve in the future the privilege of giving and 
transmitting nobility. His majesty, nevertheless, according to 
the inherent right of his crown, will grant titles of nobility to 
those of his subjects who by services rendered to the king or 
to the state shall show themselves worthy of this recompense. 

XV. 

The king, desiring to assure the personal liberty of all citizens 
in the most solid and durable manner, invites the states general 
to seek for and to propose to him the means that may be most 
fitting to conciliate the orders, known under the name of lettres 
de cachet, with the maintenance of public security and with the 
precautions necessary in some cases to guard the honor of fam- 
ilies, to repress with celerity the beginning of sedition or to 
guarantee the state from the effects of criminal negotiations with 
foreign powers. 

XVI. 

The states general shall examine and make known to his 

majesty the means most fitting to reconcile the liberty of the 

press with the respect due to religion, custom, and the honor of 

the citizens. 

XVII. 

There shall be established in the different provinces or gen- 
eralities of the kingdom, provincial estates composed thus : two- 
tenths of the members of the clergy, a part of whom will neces- 
sarily be chosen in the episcopal order; three-tenths of members 
of the nobility, and five-tenths of members of the third estate. 

XVIII. 

The members of these provincial estates shall be freely elected 



40 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

by the respective orders and a certain amount of property shall 
be necessary to be an elector or eligible. 

XIX. 

The deputies to these provincial estates shall deliberate in com- 
mon upon all affairs, following the usage observed in the pro- 
vincial assemblies, which these estates shall replace. 

XX. 

An intermediary commission, chosen by these estates, shall ad- 
minister the affairs of the province, during the interval from one 
session to another, and these intermediary commissions becoming 
alone responsible for their conduct, shall have for delegates per- 
sons chosen wholly by them or the provincial estates. 

XXI. 

The states general shall propose to the king their views upon 
all the other parts of interior organization of the provincial 
estates, and upon the choice of forms applicable to the election of 
the members of this assembly. 

XXII. 
Independently of the objects of administration with which the 
provincial assemblies are charged, the king will confide to the 
provincial estates the administration of the hospitals, prisons, 
charity stations, foundling homes, the inspection of the expenses 
of the cities, the surveillance over the maintenance of the forests, 
the protection and sale of the wood, and over other objects which 
could be more usefully administered by the provinces. 

XXIII. 

The disputes occurring in the province where ancient estates 
exist and the protests that have arisen against the constitution 
of the assemblies, ought to claim the attention of the states gen- 
eral; they shall make known to his majesty the dispositions of 
justice and wisdom that it is suitable to adopt to establish a 
fixed order in the administration of these same provinces. 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 41 

XXIV. 

The king invites the states general to occupy themselves in the 
quest of the proper means to turn to account the most advan- 
tageously the domains which are in his hands, and to propose 
to him equally their views upon what can be done the most con 
veniently with the domains that have been leased. 

XXV. 

The states general will consider the project conceived a long 
time ago by his majesty, of transferring the collection of tariffs 
to the frontiers of the kingdom, in order that the most perfect 
liberty may reign in the internal circulation of national or 
foreign merchandise. 

XXVI. 

His majesty desires that the unfortunate effects of the impost 
upon salt and the importance of this revenue be carefully dis- 
cussed, and that in all the substitutions, means of lightening the 
collection may at least be proposed. 

XXVII. 

His majesty wishes also that the advantages and inconven- 
iences of the internal revenue tax on liquors and other taxes be 
carefully examined, but without losing sight of the absolute 
necessity of assuring an exact balance between the revenues and 
expenses of the state. 

XXVIII. 

According to the wish that the king manifested by his declara- 
tion of the 23d of last September, his majesty will examine with 
serious attention, the plans which may be presented to him, rela- 
tive to the administration of justice, and to the means of perfect- 
ing the civil and criminal laws. 

XXIX. 

The king wishes that the laws that he will have promulgated 
during the session and after the advice or according to the wish 



42 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

of the states general, may experience in their registration and 
execution no delay nor any obstacle in all the extent of his 
kingdom. 

XXX. 

His majesty wishes that the use of the corvee for the making 
and maintenance of the roads, be entirely and forever abolished 
in this kingdom. 

XXXI 

The king desires that the abolition of the right of main-mo rte, 
of which his majesty has given the example in his domains, be 
extended to all France, and that means be proposed to him for 
providing the indemnity which would be due the lords in posses- 
sion of this right. 

XXXII. 

His majesty will make known at once to the states general 
the regulations with which he occupies himself for the purpose 
of restricting the capitaineries , to give, furthermore, in this con- 
nection, which touches the most nearly his own pleasures, a new 
proof of his love for his people. 

XXXIII. 

The king invites the states general to consider the drafting 
for the army in all its relations and to study the means of 
reconciling what is due to the defense of the state, with the ex- 
tenuations that his majesty desires to procure for his subjects. 

XXXIV. 

The king wishes that all the dispositions of public order and 
of kindness toward his people, that his majesty will have sanc- 
tioned by his authority, during the present session of the states 
general, those among others, relative to personal liberty, equality 
of taxation, the establishment of provincial estates, may never 
be changed without the consent of the three orders, given sepa- 
rately. His majesty places them in the same rank with the na- 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 43 

tional properties, that like all other property, he wishes to place 
under the most assured protection. 

XXXV. 

His majesty, after having called the states general to study, to- 
gether with him, great matters of public utility and every- 
thing which can contribute to the happiness of his people, de- 
clares in the most express manner, that he wishes to preserve 
in its entirety and without the least impairment, the constitu- 
tion of the army, as well as every authority, both police authority 
and power over the militia, such as the French monarchs have 
constantly enjoyed. 

DISCOURSE OF THE KING. 

You have, gentlemen, heard the substance of my dispositions 
and of my wishes ; they are conformable to the earnest desire that 
I have for the public welfare; and if, by a fatality far from 
my thoughts, you should abandon me in so fine an enterprise, 
alone I will assure the well being of my people, alone I will 
consider myself as their true representative and knowing your 
cahiers, knowing the perfect accord which exists between the most 
general wish of the nation and my kindly intentions, I will have 
all the confidence which so rare a harmony ought to inspire 
and I will advance towards the goal that I wish to attain with 
all the courage and firmness that it ought to inspire in me. 

Reflect, gentlemen, that none of your projects, none of your 
dispositions can have the force of a law without my special ap- 
probation. So I am the natural guarantee of your respective 
rights and all the orders of the state can depend upon my equi- 
table impartiality. All distrust upon your part would be a great 
injustice. It is I, at present, who am doing everything for the 
happiness of my people and it is rare, perhaps, that the only 
ambition of a sovereign is to come to an understanding with his 
subjects that they may accept his kindnesses. 

I order you, gentlemen, to separate immediately and to go to- 



44 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

morrow morning, each to the chamber allotted to your order; in 
order to take up again your sessions. I order therefore the grand 
master of ceremonies, to have the halls prepared. 



X. 

Bakere, Bertrand. he point du jour. 27 volumes. Paris, 1789-1791. 

This newspaper was a daily, published by Barere de Vieusac, a mem- 
ber of the third estate and deputy to the states general from Bigorre. 
The paper contained nothing but an account of the proceedings of the 
assembly, based upon notes taken in the assembly. It was placed on 
sale the next day. This enterprising journalism left its mark on the 
publication in the form of typographical errors and other inaccuracies. 
The ambition of Barere was to give a detailed, correct and unbiased report 
of the proceedings of the assembly. 

No. VI, June 24, 1789. 

First of all the two privileged orders were seated ; the national 
assembly testified its discontent by reiterated murmurs. The two 
secretaries went to M. de Breze to complain of the indecency of 
so long a delay, saying that the assembly was going to withdraw. 
The murmurs began afresh; the president rapped on the door; 
M. de Guiche appeared; a vigorous complaint was made because 
of so long a delay ; M. de Breze was called for. 

It was proposed that the assembly withdraw. M. de Breze 
arrived. The president said that he should complain to the king 
of the shortcomings of the masters of ceremony. "Of us, sir?" 
said M. de Breze. "Yes, sir. It is high time that we were 
seated." The masters of ceremonies preceded the president and 
the members of the national assembly entered two by two in the 
most profound silence at half past ten. 

The throne was placed at the back of the hall in the direction 
of the entrance of the Menus; at the right were the clergy, at 
the left the nobility and on the two sides, extending from the 
middle to the end of the hall, were the members of the national 
assembly. The four heralds and the king at arms were placed 
in the center. The throne of the king was raised upon a platform 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 45 

that occupied the back of the hall as far as the second column. 
At the base of the platform, around a table, several ministers 
were grouped; M. Neeker was not among them 

(Here follows an abridged account of the speeches of the king 
and of the contents of the two series of declarations.) 

The king having gone out, the nobility and the prelates retired. 
The members of the commons remained 

No. VII, June 25, 1789. 

After the departure of the king, several cures and all the mem- 
bers of the national assembly remained motionless in the seats 
that they occupied. A quarter of an hour later, the marquis de 
Breze, the grand master of ceremonies, approached the president 
and asked him if he had not heard the orders of the king. The 
president replied to him: "Sir, be good enough to address the as- 
sembly that has decided that it must deliberate." M. de Breze* 
did not reappear. A mournful silence reigned in the assembly. 

M. Camus took the floor, saying : "The authority of the deputies 
forming this assembly is recognized; it is also recognized that a 
free nation may not be taxed without its consent ; you have, then, 
done what you should have done. If, at our first advance, we 
are arrested, what will happen in the future? We must persist. 
Nothing is more dangerous than reserves and protestations; this 
form destroys all rights. Of what are we witnesses? At the 
opening of the estates, absolute orders " 

M. Barnave said : "Your action depends on your situation, your 
decrees depend upon you alone. You have declared what you 
are; you have no need of sanction. The voting of the taxes 
depends upon you alone. Envoys of the nation, organs of its 
will to make a constitution, you are the national assembly and 
may remain assembled as long as you may judge necessary in 
the interests of your constituents. Such was your situation yes- 
terday. What has been done today? Is it, then, in keeping with 
your prudence to abandon the cause of the public thus? Nothing 
remains for the executive power to do, but to separate you, but 



46 Source Studies on the French Revolution 

it is due to your dignity to maintain your position, to persist in 
the use of the title national assembly. Leave no doubts in the 
minds of your fellow citizens. You do not know, gentlemen, 
where force would conduct you and perhaps the public indigna- 
tion that would crush you. . . . . . ." 

M. de Glaizen, deputy from Rennes, having spoken of the in- 
discreet applause of some members of the two first orders, added : 
"Absolute power speaks through the mouth of the best of kings, 
through the mouth of a sovereign, who recognized that the peo- 
ple ought to make the laws. . . . It is a bed of justice held in 

a national assembly. It is a sovereign who speaks as a master, 
when he ought to ask advice. . . . Let the aristocrats tri- 
umph ; they have only a day. The prince will soon be en- 
lightened. No, the prince will not persist in his course. It is 
liberty that we ought to maintain — the greatness of your courage 
will equal the greatness of the circumstances, it is necessary to 
to die for the country — you have deliberated wisely, gentlemen. 
An arbitrary act that is about to ruin the kingdom, that is about 
to produce anarchy, ought not to terrify you." 

M. de Mirabeau, in supporting the motion of M. • Camus, said 
that he blessed liberty because it ripened such fine fruit in the 
national assembly; that he was of the opinion that a decree de- 
claring the inviolability of the deputies ought to be passed. "Such 
a course," he said, "would not be a manifestation of fear, but 
an act of prudence, a check upon the violent counsels that sur- 
round the throne." 

M. Petion de Villeneuve took the floor to support the two mo- 
tions : "An arbitrary act has severed the knot already fastened 
by the clergy. . . . No consideration without liberty. Our 
safety lies in firmness." 

M. Buzot said that he would say little, that indignation is not 
verbose. "The national assembly," he added, "may not commit 
perjury. . . . What an assault upon the liberty of the states 
general !" 

M. l'abbe Sieves contented himself with saying, "Gentlemen, 
you are today what you were yesterday." 



The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 47 

M. Garat, the elder, spoke at length on the articles contained 
in the king's declaration, endeavoring to show that they were 
only an adroit trick to turn the people against their deputies. 
He spoke with as much sense as force. 

M. 1'abbe Gregoire spoke with energy, and pretended that to 
continue to work on the constitution would be to fall in with 
the views of the king, who was still deceived by those around him. 

At half past two, a standing vote was taken on the motion of 
M. Camus. The national assembly declared unanimously fhat 
it persisted in maintaining its previous decrees. The members 
of the clergy asked "that it be noted that the deliberation had 
taken place in their presence." 

The vote was taken in the presence of several officers of the 
French guards and of some gentlemen, deputies of the nobility, 
who had remained quiet spectators of the scene. 

The motion of M. de Mirabeau upon the inviolability of the 
persons of the deputies having passed by a majority vote, the fol- 
lowing decree was framed: 

(Here follows the text of the decree.) 

Passed by a majority of four hundred and .eighty-six votes 
against thirty-four. 



lii/ tSMK 



